Confusion, delayed results mark first punch-card free election
MATT LEINGANG, Associated Press
May 3, 2006 (The News-Sentinel)

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Tardy poll workers, scattered technical problems and a puzzling order from the secretary of state to delay reporting results marked Ohio's first punch-card free election.

Tuesday's primary was the first in which all 88 Ohio counties used either touch-screen electronic machines or ones that electronically scan ballots marked by voters. Voters ed nominees for governor, Congress and statewide offices.

Glitches were reported around the state. Because touch-screen machines did not function properly at first in some polling sites, some voters in Cuyahoga County had to fill out paper ballots, which were being hand-counted. About 17,000 absentee ballots also had to be hand-counted because of problems with optical scanners.

Cuyahoga Elections Board spokeswoman Jane Platten said the hand counting continued Wednesday and she was unsure when the results would be known.

Platten said another problem was discovered later in the morning: an unknown number of memory cards that hold vote results from touch-screen machines at 74 polling locations were missing. The elections board was searching for the cards but Platten would not discuss any more details, citing security concerns. The county reported results from about 86 percent of its precincts by late Wednesday morning, with votes unaccounted for in about 208 precincts.

Some local issues remained undecided while votes were counted, but there were not enough outstanding ballots to affect any statewide races.

David Bear, spokesman for Diebold Inc., which supplies Cuyahoga's machines, said the absentee counting problem appears to be isolated. The ovals on the ballots printed by the county did not line up properly for optical scan machines to count them, he said.

Also in northeast Ohio, Stark County reported only 97 percent of its unofficial vote totals early Wednesday because about 30 cards that record votes in electronic voting machines were missing. Election officials were trying to determine if poll workers simply forgot to remove the cards.

One-hundred percent of the county's vote total was reported on the election board's Web site shortly after 2 a.m. Calls to the elections board were not immediately returned.

The biggest confusion was over an order by Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, the GOP candidate for governor, to hold election results until all polls closed, citing a judge's decision to keep one polling place open for two hours past the normal closing.

Judge Nancy McDonnell of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court had ordered the polling site to remain open until 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, after three of the four poll workers at a neighborhood center in Cleveland did not show up for the scheduled 6:30 a.m. opening.

It was unclear how many voters were initially turned away or how many cast ballots during the extended voting.

McDonnell said her ruling applied to only one precinct and she had no idea it would have any impact on election results in the rest of the state.

Blackwell, without citing specifics, said his decision was based on federal law, even though the ruling was by a county judge.

"We don't want the results dribbling out willy-nilly," Blackwell said. "We want to wait until the polls close."

Despite Blackwell's order, some counties released results after the polls closed at 7:30 p.m. The secretary of state's office began releasing totals about two hours later.

In November 2004, results were reported even though some polling places stayed open until well after midnight. However, only voters in line at 7:30 p.m. were permitted to vote.

The late-arriving poll workers who failed to promptly set up electronic voting machines, printer errors and voters taking extra time to cast ballots in new ways were among other problems reported Tuesday.

About 20 percent of precincts in Franklin County - more than 160 - opened as much as a half-hour late. About 50 people left without voting, Board of Elections Director Matthew Damschroder said.